Avatar 3 Seraphim-class Dreadnaught
The Avatar-3 Seraphim-class Dreadnaught was the only known type of capital ship used by the Thirdspace Alien race. It is also known as a Thirdspace capital ship '''or simply '''Seraphim Dreadnaught. Characteristics These ships were at least 2000 meters long, or roughly equal in size to the Explorer Ships once used by the Earth Alliance before first contact with the Centauri. Despite their massive size and power, they are incredibly manuverable and redundant. This redundancy allows them the fare quite well in combat, even with their primary defenses destroyed. Propulsion Avatar 3s are propelled by a purely gravitic drive system with no discernable engines. The gravimetric field is generated by the "floating scales" on the backside of the ship, propelling it at a rate of 7-8 Gs in normal space and 10-12 Gs in hyperspace. This manuverability allows them to stay in the blind spots of enemy warships fairly easily, and they can fly circles around even Vorlon Star Dreadnaughts. This system is highly redundant even if the energy field is taken down, and it would take 600 to 800 direct hits to render this propulsion system inoperable. Weapons The primary weapon of an Avatar 3 is a massive set of three Antimatter Bolt Cannons that can easily destroy small warships in one hit and do massive damage to larger ships. The weapon comes in three variations: Lightbringer arrays, twin-linked hellfire lancets, and regular hellfire lancets. All are antimatter weapons, just of different calibre. A typical Seraphim has a Lightbringer Array, itself being made of three individual Bolt Cannons, three twin-linked Hellfire Lancets for use on either capital ships or fighters, and four single Hellfire Lancets on each side. The whole ship has a weapon fire arc of about 60 degrees, centered at its front. Its only other weapon that works from any direction is a smaller version of the energy siphon that the orginal gate had in it that nearly left B5 dead in space. Defenses Avatar 3s are equipped with an extermely powerful energy field that can absorb virtually all known types of weapons, ranging from First One ships to any of the younger race ship designs. However, the energy field, unlike the far more powerful version on the Throne-class gateships can only absorb a finite amount of firepower before collapsing on itself. Even though, the amount of firepower required to take down this field is still quite impressive. Once it fails, it can be restarted and recharged, but only if it is not still being attacked. To back up the energy field, Avatar 3s also have Thirdspace Bio-armor in the event that the field sustains too much punishment. This armor is not as varied in composition as Vorlon Bio-armor or Shadow Bio-armor, but is much thicker than either bio-armor. Every critical system inside the main hull of the ship has multiple backups, and even then, it can sustain incredible amounts of damage while still retaining functionality of weapons and drive systems. Only Aegis-class particle beams and railguns can punch through it in a reasonable amount of time. In the only known incident after the discovery and destruction of the Vorlon gate, the single ship found in the incident took 68 direct railgun hits before critical systems were struck. The particle beam weapons of Omega-class destroyers are moderately effective, and Aegis beams can finish off a single wounded vessel. Construction These ships are not actually built, but grown. The base material to make them is the stony chitin produced by the Thirdspace Aliens themselves, after which various organic systems are implanted on this base and grown into the ship's shape. Once its shape is built from many pieces, the twin reactors, weapons, and gravity drive scales are attached to the base (each of these is produced separately). Power Generators This ship class is powered by two seperate reactors: a Coupled Gravitic Reactor and a Quantum Singularity Reactor. The coupled gravitic reactor is the primary means of power generation, and it is located just behind the main hull. The massive, glowing reactor is unaffected by pulsed or beam weapons, due to its gravitational nature. However, severe gravitational disturbances or graviton-based weapons can severely effect or even shut it down. To supplement this fairly unstable power system, the quantum singularity reactor is more robust than the much bigger primary reactor. It is nestled near the center of the main hull, and it can resist regular weapons like the primary. Complement Seraphim Dreadnaughts lack any kind of fighter bay or hangar bay, so they arrive at battlefields with a pre-deployed gunship escort of 9-40 ships. Only Thirdspace Aliens can pilot these massive vessels, since they can "Teleport" inside the armored hull, which has no visible docking ports. Battlefield Role Typically these ships fight in groups based on a simple formation of three vessels with a fourth as a strategic reserve.